The present invention relates to the electronic communication arts and more particularly to an operator controlled interactive communication device for communication between a customer installation site and a vendor of copying/printing machines.
Patents have issued regarding transmission to a remote location, data which reflects the operation of a copying or printing machine. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,461 to Maekawa, et al. is directed to a copying machine controlling system for performing information communication. The system is capable of making communication between data terminals and a centralized unit by voice or facsimile communication. The centralized control apparatus which receives data related to the plurality of copying machines through a communication network also controls each of the copying machines. The system includes receiving means for receiving count data of the number of copies in the plurality of copying machines, totalizing means for totalizing the received count data for each copying machine, storing means for storing a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus provided corresponding to each of the copying machines, and transmitting means for transmitting image data based on the totalized count data to each facsimile apparatus provided corresponding to each of the copying machines.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,199 to LoBiondo, et al. is directed to a reprographic machine which includes an inventory tracking system for monitoring consumable supplies. Usage data from a plurality of network reprographic machines are supplied to a single tracking system for monitoring inventories of supplies consumed by the network. Automatic or semiautomatic ordering can be provided via a remote interactive communication system. Order conformation, projected shipment dates and shipment conformations can be provided from the reorder site.
Additionally, other patents have been issued in other areas which include remote monitoring. Bocchi, 4,086,434, receives information from sensors in order to initiate calls to a central office at predetermined intervals such as reporting utility usage including, time of day power usage metering. This system also describes automatic initiation of a call to appropriate authorities, i.e., fire department, police department, etc. in response to an alarm condition.
A common feature among the known art is that the device monitors the internal functioning of the machine or system under consideration. Particularly, with attention to copy machines and printers the disclosed devices receive data from internal diagnostic tests and/or sensors and transmit this data to a remote communication site. For instance, in LoBiondo, et al. the communication system receives data from a tracking system both of which are internal to the machine. Machines such as that set forth in LoBiondo, et al. incorporate communication capabilities commonly known as remote interactive communication (RIC) systems. In a RIC system deviations in performance of key parameters are detected, an expert system makes an analysis of the situation and transmits a service alert, including recommended solutions, to an appropriate service technician. The technician will then schedule, in advance, a site visit before the problem becomes severe enough to warrant a system shutdown.
Machines having systems which perform self-diagnostic tests and which have the capability of transmitting the resultant data to sources external of the machine are found in high-end, high volume copying environments. These machines are expensive and therefore prohibitive to users who require only low volume production capabilities. Particularly, offices which do not require high volume copying or printing would not find it economically justifiable to purchase a high-end reproduction machine or printer including remote interactive communication (RIC) or systems with similar capabilities. It would also not be economically justifiable to attempt to modify these machines to incorporate RIC type technology. This known technology also does not address a situation to improve the efficiency of communication between the customer's installation and the vendor, when a technician of the vendor is at the customer's installation.
Therefore, while including the capability of a RIC system in reproduction or printing machines might be desirable there are numerous situations where machines without such capabilities are in place and operating. The present invention is directed to these situations.
Currently, a customer will communicate with a vendor of one of these machines for several reasons. A customer may request a service call, and later a technician may notify the customer of technician's estimated time of arrival. The customer may also contact the vendor to order supplies, request a sales call, and to send billing meter readings. All but the last of these require a voice telephone (billing meter readings for machines that are not RIC enabled may be mailed to the vendor). Communication via the telephone for the above situations is undesirable for several reasons. Particularly, voice communications are inherently inefficient, they are real-time oriented, requiring the customer to wait until a representative of the vendor is available, it is also often difficult and sometimes impossible for the customer to accurately describe a problem in terms that a technician can use to diagnose the problem. A customer must also remember one or more telephone numbers (i.e. for service, sales and supplies ordering). Additionally, when the vendor wants to contact the customer, the phone is again used which thereby interrupts the customer from their normal daily business activities. If such a call was to simply notify the customer the time of the technician's arrival this interruption is undesirable from the customer's point of view. Lastly, the use of the mail to send billing meter readings is quite slow and unreliable.
The present invention, therefore, proposes a communication device to overcome the above deficiencies and others in an economical manner for machines which do not have remote interactive communication capabilities designed therein. In another embodiment the subject invention includes a construction which allows the subject invention to work with a machine having remote interactive capabilities and expands the usefulness of such machines.